The invention relates to hose boom swivel assemblies mounted on the ceilings of self-service car wash bays wherein a customer inserts a coin in a coin machine that automatically turns on high pressure water and a detergent disposing system, and wherein the customer aims the resulting high velocity stream of liquid from the nozzle of a spray wand at the surface of a vehicle, the hose boom swiveling through a 360.degree. arc as the customer carries the spray wand, which is fed by a flexible feed hose connected to such a hose boom swivel assembly around all sides of the automobile; the invention more particularly relates to a self-return mechanism which prevents the flexible hose extending between the end of hose boom arm and the handle of the wand from drooping in the travel path of an automobile entering the bay.
Self-service car wash establishments are very common. They are often used by persons who have high-profile vehicles, such as campers, motor homes, and the like which cannot pass through many automatic car wash systems. They are also very popular with persons who do not wish to pay the higher cost of having their automobile washed in a car wash facility of the kind that provides automatic washing, waxing, and drying functions, and who are willing to expend some effort themselves to wash their vehicles in order to save money. The self-service car wash facilities being referred to generally include large rectangular bays which are open at least one end, so that an automobile or vehicle can drive into the bay. Such self-service car wash facilities usually have a "coin-box" in which the user must insert a predetermined amount of money in order to activate the system. Typically, such self-service car wash systems have a spray wand having a pistol grip and a long nozzle from which a high-velocity liquid spray is ejected. The spray wand is fed by a long flexible hose supported by a roughly horizontal pivotal hose boom arm that swivels about a vertical axis as the user makes his way around the car, aiming the high velocity stream of detergent and/or water emitted by the nozzle at the surfaces of the vehicle, wetting and soaping such surfaces. The high velocity stream tends to "blast" off dirt and the like. The feed hose preferably does not rub along any surface of the car as the user moves. One relatively inexpensive system of the type described uses a hose boom that is pivotally mounted in the upper center portion of one of the side walls of the bay. This system includes a spring which causes the hose boom to return to a position that is parallel to the wall, so that the feed hose droops from the end of the hose boom and extends to a wand holder in which the wand is placed when not in use. In this system, the feed hose is completely out of the path of any car as it is driven into the bay, and therefore, causes no difficulties due to snagging of the feed hose on parts of the car. However, this system suffers from the shortcoming that the end of the hose boom is in a very inconvenient position for much of the washing operation, since it simply swings through a semicircle over the top of the vehicle. As the user works his way around the car with the spray wand, the hose inevitably rubs across the surface of the car's roof, sometimes leaving dark marks, especially on vinyl "landau tops". The user has to concentrate an undue amount of effort just in controlling the hose and the hose boom, in addition to controlling the direction of the stream of liquid ejected from the nozzle. This can be quite distracting to the user, especially since the self-service car wash systems of this general kind have rather short wash and rinse cycles, and it may be necessary for the user to insert additional coins and go through the entire wash and rinse cycle a second time if the user's progress is slowed simply because he has to struggle with the hose and hose boom.
One of the most common and reliable hose boom mechanisms available is sold by The Zierden Company of Oak Creek, Wisc. This device sold under the trade name "ZIERCO WATER BOY", includes a "car wash safety boom and swivel assembly" that is mounted in the center of the ceiling of the car wash bay. Its horizontal hose boom arm is approximately five feet long and pivots freely through an entire 360.degree. circular arc about a vertical axis. This system is very popular in the industry and has much to recommend it, but it does not have a means for causing the hose boom arm to return to a particular direction. The hose boom arm therefore returns to the direction to which it is pulled by the drooping feed hose when the wand is placed on a wand holder, which is a holster-like wand holder that is attached to one of the sidewalls of the car wash bay.
At this point, it is important to realize that it is essential that the wand holder be located very close to the coin box in such systems. It is essential that the user be able to put his handle on the handle of the spray wand before he inserts the coin in the coin box, because typically as soon as the coin is inserted in the coin box, very high pressure is produced in the feed hose, causing a high pressure jet to immediately be ejected from the end of the nozzle. If the wand holder does not have a lock, as some do not, or if the lock is not properly engaged, the high pressure jet can cause the spray wand to shoot out of the holder and begin flying around unless the user grips the handle of the spray wand. This, of course, can cause severe injury to the user as he trys to retrieve the wand and can also cause considerable damage to the automobile.
Next, it must be appreciated that the coin-box usually must be located very close to the entry of the bay, rather than near the center of one of the sidewalls thereof, because the coin box must be kept as dry as possible. Obviously, "over-spray" from the nozzle of the wand as the user sprays his vehicle could soon result in both mechanical and/or electrical malfunctioning if the coin box (which usually houses control elements) is repeatedly subjected to high pressure spraying of water and detergent.
Now, it can be appreciated that when a user of a self-service car wash system in which the above-mentioned ZIERCO hose boom swivel assembly is utilized places the wand in the wand holder (which is mounted on the wall beneath the coin box adjacent to the opening entry of the bay), the freely swivelable hose boom and the feed hose drooping from the free end thereof will point in a direction from the center of the car wash bay to one corner thereof. The feed hose will droop from the free end of the elevated hose boom arm so that it is likely to snag the bumper, mirrors, and/or radio antenna of a car as it pulls into the bay. This has resulted in quite a number of accidents, involving damage to vehicles, injury to customers, and damage to feed hoses and hose boom swivel assemblies. Occasionally, a customer will back out of the bay, either immediately after snagging the hose or after washing the car; in this event, the drooping hose is likely to be snagged by the bumper. If this happens, it usually damages the hose. It also can produce excessive forces on the hose boom assembly, causing damage to it, and furthermore it can cause the spray wand to fly out of the wand holder, possibly damaging the vehicle, and also possibly causing severe injury to the driver of the vehicle, especially if his head is extended out of the vehicle's window to enable him to see what is happening to the snagged feed hose. Damage to the hose boom assembly, spray wand, wand holder, vehicle and driver can also occur if the mirror rather than the bumper of the vehicle snags the feed hose, especially if the mirror happens to be one of the large mirrors that are frequently provided on trucks, motor homes, and tow vehicles. Again, there is a history in the self-service car wash industry of damage to vehicles, car wash apparatus, and persons due to snagging of drooping feed hoses by such mirror structures.
The above described problems are so common that the feed hose in an average car wash bay needs to be replaced approximately every sixty days, at a cost of roughly $45.00.
The "over-hung" weight produced by the drooping feed hose hanging from the free end of the hose boom arm and the weight of the hose boom arm itself on a "swivel cartridge" component of the ZIERCO system causes uneven forces on the internal bearings of the swivel cartridge. As a result, the average life of such a cartridge is approximately six months. The cost of replacing a swivel cartridge is typically $65.00 to $75.00.
Despite widespread recognition of the above problems in the car wash industry for at least the last fifteen years, and despite the high cost of continually replacing damaged hoses, swivel cartridges, and paying claims made by persons who have been injured or had their property damaged, no one has been able to provide a satisfactory solution to the above described problems. Therefore, it is obvious that there is an unmet need for an economical, practical system for causing hose boom swivel mechanisms of the type described above to automatically return to positions such that the feed hoses do not droop in the paths of automobiles entering car wash bays while also having the characteristics that the automatic return mechanism does not substantially interfere with convenient use of the spray wand as the user washes all sides of his vehicle and does not cause the feed hose to drape over the surface of the vehicle.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a self-return method and mechanism for causing a swivel hose boom assembly to automatically return to a predetermined position without interfering with swivel operation thereof through a major portion of a 360.degree. arc through which the mechanism must swivel.
It is another object of the invention to provide a means and method for reducing wear on bearings of the swivel cartridge contained in the above-described prior art hose boom swivel assembly.
It is another object of the invention to provide a self-service car wash which avoids injury to people and property caused by drooping of a feed hose in the path of a vehicle entering the self service car wash establishment.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus and method for retrofitting pre-existing swivel hose boom assemblies to cause them to self-return to positions which avoid drooping of feed hoses in the paths of cars entering a self-service car wash bay but allow free swiveling of such hose boom assemblies throughout most of the circular arc through which they must swivel during use by customers.
Many customers have asked me to provide a solution to this problem, and I and one of my employees have spent considerable effort and thought trying to provide a solution to the problem, but it was not until I independently conceived of the invention described herein that there appeared to be any adequate and economical solution to the problem. No self-returning mechanical devices of any kind that I know of including any which have ever been applied to any car wash apparatus) provides a self-returning function that does not interfere with free pivoting of a pivot mechanism through a substantial portion of its pivot range.